Untitled Painting

Monica De Mitri’s paper labyrinths unfold with elegance and lightness, almost as though they are following their own inner melody that floats up from the meanderings of the memory. Her waves of paper twist, bend and stretch, describing characters and reinvented script, or intertwining in a tapestry of wefts and weaves, or mutating into veritable three-dimensional extroflections that see the artist lean towards sculpture. It is, in fact, this uncertainty, if not impossibility, in defining her art that renders it so fascinating, opening it up to countless interpretations. There are those who see waves, flowers, hills or ethnic patterns in her work, while others perceive abstract forms, Brancusi’s Infinity Columns, or the universal rotundity of Moore. Yet Monica’s most personal and original trait is her study of shade, resulting from the overlapping and layering of paper that captures light within its sinuous twists and turns, shaping it, even lending it form, to then free it, fragmented and blurred. These candid works thus unfold and bend to the perception of the viewer, questioning the very meaning of Art. No directions, no guidelines, no key to interpretation... not even a reassuring title to shed light on Monica’s works. The artist simply abandons us in the presence of her paper creations, calling on us to let our imagination run free, thus adding new value, new content and new meaning to these works. It is an invitation to enter the labyrinth of creativity, of understanding, without the aid of a thread of rationality, and with the knowledge that the monstrous Minotaur is nothing more than a projection of our inner shadows. (Carlo Micheli)